What They’re Saying: NRSC Chair “Will Continue Talking About” Agenda To Raise Taxes, “Really Wants To Saddle Senate Republicans With A Tax Hike”

New reports are highlighting how NRSC Chair Rick Scott is doubling down on Senate Republicans’ unpopular agenda to raise taxes on over half of all Americans – pledging to “continue talking about [the] plan” that will “saddle Senate Republicans with a tax hike.”

See for yourself:

Leigh Ann Caldwell (NBC News): @SenRickScott tells me he “absolutely” stands by his 11-point plan. “I also believe that people ought to know what we’re going to do when we get a majority,” he said.

Joseph Zeballos-Roig (Business Insider): So Scott really wants to saddle Senate Republicans with a tax hike on low and middle-income Americans huh

Shane Goldmacher (New York Times): Scott seems undeterred to promote package post McConnell clash

Edward-Isaac Dovere (CNN): Dems couldn’t have been happier about Rick Scott. DSCC chair @SenGaryPeters told me last week: “Rick Scott let folks know what that contrast is–at a time when costs are rising and families are struggling, you’ve got Rick Scott is saying half of Americans should pay more taxes”

Morning Consult: Rick Scott’s Plan to Tax All Americans Is Unpopular

• Only a third of voters support Senate GOP campaign chief’s tax proposal.
  

• Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said all Americans should “have skin in the game, even if a small amount” when it comes to income tax, specifically referencing the half of Americans he said avoid the levy. Currently, millions of Americans do not pay income taxes because they’re retired, do not make enough money or receive tax credits.
  
  
• The majority of the electorate’s lowest earners (those from households making less than $50,000 a year) and retirees oppose the measure amid voter concerns about the cost of living.

Orlando Sentinel (Editorial Board): Rick Scott’s un-American plan to ‘rescue America’

• “This plan,” Scott wrote, “is not for the faint of heart.” It’s not for anyone who wants to win a Senate race this year, either.
  
  
• Where to begin? The richest man in Congress demands that the roughly 50% of Americans who pay no income tax pony up, to get some “skin in the game.”
  
  
• Scott says of his GOP colleagues, “Americans deserve to know what we will do when we get the chance to govern.” Fellow Americans, you have been warned.
  

Palm Beach Post (Editorial Board): For better or worse, Rick Scott lists what GOP stands for

• So, give Scott credit. He did what his colleagues are reluctant to do. No beating around the bush. No fear of exposing the party as wrong-headed, inhumane, hypocritical, what have you. Scott put his dubious party platform down on paper for all the world to see.
  
  
• Scott is no Senate backbencher. As chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, he’s in a position of influence…Thanks to Scott, voters now have a clearer idea of what they can expect from Republican candidates.

POLITICO: 

• Scott has launched an ad to promote his agenda … with potentially polarizing proposals, such as sunsetting all federal laws after five years and advising that “all Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game.”

The Hill: 

• I also believe Republicans should talk about a plan for turning this country around,” Scott said in a statement… I will continue talking about my plan.”

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